Method and apparatus for presenting gamer performance at a social network

Abstract

A system that incorporates teachings of the present disclosure may include, for example, receiving at a computer device a plurality of stimulus signals generated by one or more gaming accessory devices of a gamer controlling a gaming application, generating a plurality of gaming stimulations based on the plurality of stimulus signals, generating a plurality of gaming action results from the gaming application responsive to the plurality of gaming stimulations, combining the plurality of gaming action results and the plurality of gaming stimulations to generate a plurality of hardware statistics associated with the gamer, and transmitting to a social network the plurality of hardware statistics associated with the gamer.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A device, comprising:
 a processing system including a processor; and   a memory that stores executable instructions that, when executed by the processing system, facilitate performance of operations, the operations comprising:   initiating a social network including a plurality of members of the social network and a plurality of computer devices for operating gaming programs;   receiving, from the plurality of computer devices, hardware statistics associated with a plurality of gamers that play the gaming programs and performance factors, wherein the receiving hardware statistics comprises:
 receiving stimulus signals generated by one or more gaming accessory devices and substituted stimulations based on the stimulus signals, and 
 processing the stimulus signals and the substituted stimulations to generate the hardware statistics; 
   generating a plurality of hardware profiles, each respective hardware profile of the plurality of hardware profiles being associated with a respective gamer of the plurality of gamers, wherein the generating the plurality of hardware profiles is based on the hardware statistics and the performance factors; and   presenting a hardware profile that is associated with the respective gamer of the plurality of gamers to members of the social network.   
     
     
         2 . The device of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 presenting an interface to a member of the social network, the interface configured to identify performance criteria for selected gamers of the plurality of gamers; and   alerting the member of the social network if the respective gamer of the plurality of gamers achieves the performance criteria of interest for the selected gamers.   
     
     
         3 . The device of  claim 1 , wherein the receiving the hardware statistics comprises:
 receiving the hardware statistics for which respective computer devices of the plurality of computer devices correlate the stimulus signals and the substituted stimulations to a set of gaming results and for which the respective computer devices of the plurality of computer devices further correlate the set of gaming stimulations, the set of substituted stimulations, and the set of gaming results to generate a set of performance factors.   
     
     
         4 . The device of  claim 3 , wherein the operations further comprise:
 detecting correlations between portions of the hardware statistics or portions of the performance factors or combinations thereof;   synthesizing at least one skill profile of one gamer of the plurality of gamers based on the correlations; and   presenting information about the at least one skill profile to members of the plurality of members of the social network.   
     
     
         5 . The device of  claim 4 , wherein the operations further comprise:
 detecting additional correlations between portions of the set of gaming action results and graphical representations of game play of a game; and   synthesizing the at least one skill profile of the one gamer of the plurality of gamers based on the correlations and the additional correlations.   
     
     
         6 . The device of  claim 1 , wherein the operations further comprise:
 comparing two or more hardware profiles of the plurality of hardware profiles corresponding to two or more gamers of the plurality of gamers; and   presenting the two or more hardware profiles that are compared to a portion of the plurality of members of the social network.   
     
     
         7 . The device of  claim 6 , wherein the operations further comprise:
 receiving, from an inquiring gamer of the plurality of gamers, a request to identify a gamer according to a specified hardware profile associated with the gamer;   identifying a recommended gamer of the plurality of gamers based on a hardware profile of the recommended gamer and the specified hardware profile; and   providing, to the inquiring gamer of the plurality of gamers, identification information of the recommended gamer.   
     
     
         8 . The device of  claim 6 , wherein the operations further comprise:
 reviewing selected hardware profiles of the plurality of hardware profiles; and   identifying one or more matching hardware profiles of the plurality of hardware profiles, wherein the matching hardware profiles satisfy a similarity criterion with the selected hardware profiles.   
     
     
         9 . The device of  claim 8 , wherein the operations further comprise:
 identifying two or more members of the social network as having complimentary skill profiles, wherein the identifying the two or more members of the social network is based on respective hardware profiles of the two or more members of the social network; and   providing a team recommendation to the two or more members of the social network.   
     
     
         10 . The device of  claim 1 , wherein the operations further comprise:
 capturing a plurality of member comments from the plurality of members of the social network; and   presenting the plurality of member comments at a website for access by at least a portion of the plurality of members of the social network, wherein the presenting the plurality of member comments comprises presenting the plurality of member comments with links to other site content of the website or links to related content of the website.   
     
     
         11 . A non-transitory machine-readable medium, comprising executable instructions that, when executed by a processing system including a processor, facilitate performance of operations, the operations comprising:
 initiating a social network including a plurality of members and a plurality of computer devices for operating gaming programs;   receiving, from the plurality of computer devices, a plurality of hardware statistics associated with a plurality of gamers using the gaming programs, including receiving stimulus signals generated by gamer computer devices, substituted stimulations corresponding to the stimulus signals, a plurality of gaming results, and a plurality of performance factors;   generating a plurality of hardware profiles, each hardware profile being associated with a gamer of the plurality of gamers, wherein the hardware profiles are based on combinations of hardware statistics and performance factors;   presenting an interface to a member of the social network, wherein the interface is configured to identify performance criteria for selected members of the plurality of gamers; and   presenting information about the hardware statistics to the members of the plurality of members of the social network.   
     
     
         12 . The non-transitory machine-readable medium of  claim 11 , wherein the presenting information comprises:
 presenting an alert to the member of the social network when a gamer of the plurality of gamers achieves one or more specified performance criteria of interest to the member of the social network.   
     
     
         13 . The non-transitory machine-readable medium of  claim 11 , wherein the operations further comprise:
 comparing two or more hardware profiles of the plurality of hardware profiles;   detecting patterns in the two or more hardware profiles based on the comparing; and   associating two or more gamers of the plurality of gamers based on the patterns.   
     
     
         14 . The non-transitory machine-readable medium of  claim 13 , wherein the operations further comprise:
 matching the two or more gamers for participation in a session of a gaming application; and   notifying the two or more gamers that the two or more gamers are compatible for social networking.   
     
     
         15 . The non-transitory machine-readable medium of  claim 13 , wherein the operations further comprise:
 initiating a game play of a gaming application between the two or more gamers; and   presenting information about the game play of the gaming application to members of the social network.   
     
     
         16 . A method, comprising:
 generating, by a processing system including a processor, gaming action results from a gaming application responsive to received gaming stimulations, wherein the generating the gaming action results comprises
 receiving, by the processing system, stimulus signals generated by a gaming accessory device of a gamer, 
 substituting a stimulation for a received standard stimulus signal of the stimulus signals, forming substituted stimulations, and 
 correlating, by the processing system, the stimulus signals and the substituted stimulations; 
   correlating, by the processing system, the stimulus signals, the substituted stimulations, and gaming results of the gaming accessory device to generate a set of performance factors;   generating, by the processing system, hardware statistics associated with the gamer, wherein the hardware statistics comprise information about the gaming action results and the stimulus signals, wherein the hardware statistics include the set of performance factors; and   communicating, by the processing system, the hardware statistics associated with the gamer to a social network for presentation to one or more members of the social network.   
     
     
         17 . The method of  claim 16 , further comprising:
 communicating an alert to a member of the social network if the gamer achieves one or more performance criteria of interest to the member.   
     
     
         18 . The method of  claim 16 , further comprising:
 generating, by the processing system, a gamer hardware profile of the gamer, wherein the gamer hardware profile comprises hardware statistics for the gamer and performance factors for the gamer, and wherein the gamer hardware profile further includes comparative ratings for the gamer against other gamers.   
     
     
         19 . The method of  claim 18 , comprising:
 combining, by the processing system, the set of performance factors and the hardware statistics to form the gamer hardware profile of the gamer; and   communicating, by the processing system, the gamer hardware profile of the gamer to the social network.   
     
     
         20 . The method of  claim 19 , comprising:
 comparing, by the processing system, two or more hardware profiles including the hardware profile of the gamer;   detecting, by the processing system, patterns in the two or more hardware profiles based on the comparing; and   associating, by the processing system, two or more gamers based on the patterns as potential teammates or competitors.